Interest in genealogical research has grown tremendously over the last century and has become a popular hobby among all age groups. Much of the excitement surrounding genealogy stems from a researcher's ability to study the various relationships within their family trees—to see who they are related to and how. When a researcher discovers that they are in some way related to another individual, it is common for the researcher to desire to understand the exact nature of that relationship.
Previously, methods for displaying a relationship between two people within a family tree structure were accomplished using a single screen display or, more commonly, a textual description. Although some relationship queries are simple, many are complex, involving multiple generations and/or spanning various branches of a family tree. A textual description of a complex relationship could easily become so complicated and lengthy that it was of little use in describing the relationship in a meaningful way.
Rare attempts to describe a complex relationship visually resulted in shrinking the information that was available for each node in the tree, sometimes to the point that it was difficult to discern anything other than the general direction of the relationship. This resulted in a loss of context about the specific turns along a genealogical chart that a relationship might take. Unfortunately, this display problem becomes more exaggerated as modern personal computing transitions in part to more mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers, which offer increasingly smaller display screens. Both casual and dedicated genealogical researchers have found this process frustrating and it threatens to dampen their enthusiasm for further research. The following invention serves to remedy these and other problems.